Manga: Gigant, Volume 10

 

Content Warning: Nudity, mild gore, and wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff

Here we are, the end of the road. The last volume. The end of this weird story. And it’s going to an odd ending, which shouldn’t be surprising, after everything else we’ve seen. It’s going to be a bit of a tough read, but let’s get started.

This volume begins with the aftermath of the last volume, with an EMP knocking out most of the technology in Tokyo. People are commenting on the fact that the US launched a nuke against the ETE satellite, with PaPiCo still aboard. Rei starts crying, begging that Chiho is alright. Three days later, power is restored to Tokyo and it is confirmed that PaPiCo died aboard the satellite, and she receives a state/global funeral. Meanwhile, Rei falls into a deep depression, unable to cope with the loss. His memories of Chiho brings him to her apartment, where he ends up FINALLY watching the DVD from volume one. I KNEW that was going to be important! I didn’t forget about it.

While watching the DVD, we discover the Space/Future Weirdos original mission: stopping the death of a Professor Banner in a freak accident. It’s believed that he will program Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics into Socrates and Plato and change the future. If you’re unfamiliar with the Three Laws, look them up on Wikipedia, they’re famous. Anyway. After making this discovery, Mochi reappears. Remember how the dog traveled to the future? Well, the future is now. Rei has a light-bulb moment and realizes that the other little button thing will take him back in time. Rather than doing the smart thing, like going home and using it, he uses it right then and there in the apartment, and has to get away before Chiho’s former (now current) shitty boyfriend discovers him.

Now that he’s in the past, and he knows that the Space Weirdos aren’t going to save the Professor, he does it himself.

After saving Professor Banner, he’s chased down by the original Space Weirdo that we saw die way back in volume one. Rei explains to him what happens and he waits for the other members of the team to arrive. I find it interesting that they’re still able to come back, given how the future they came from doesn’t exist anymore (at least, it appears that it doesn’t, given what happened). This the wibbly-wobbly stuff I was talking about.

But, here’s the thing, now that things have changed, Rei will never meet Chiho.

Using the button, he returns to the time that he left from, but he never met Chiho (which makes me wonder about those signs that were put up back in volume one, perhaps it was something done by Socrates and Plato?) but everyone is alive and the ETE stuff also never happened. And robots start integrating into society. Safe, sane, and helpful robots.

As Rei adapts to this reality, he sees Chiho saving the city in his mind’s eye, and remembers their conversations about how they would find each other if they were reincarnated. He does go to her apartment, seeing her outside, but her boyfriend is there, too. Their eyes met for just a second and she just looks away, with no recognation. But he just can’t forget her. He misses her. And, after a dream where she tells him to come and find her, he sets his life on a path to do just that.

The final chapter begins with someone asking Chiho if it’s true that she was an AV actress in the past, while doing her makeup. She confirms that she was, and that she broke up with her boyfriend last year. She also got a call from a movie studio, as there’s an up and coming director who wants her to star in his new film, his student film having won an award. Yeah, hold on to your butts…

We see Rei again, and he’s got long hair and glasses, and we see Chiho again, who’s also got longer hair, too. When they meet, she realizes that she’s been invited to the role because she was in porn and Rei admits that he used to be a fan. She says it’s the first time she’s ever been glad she did that gig. If you haven’t guessed it already, the movie Rei is making is their story, the story we read until Rei went back in time and changed everything. He’s had to cast someone to play him, but these are his memories, being made into a movie. As the movie filming continues, Chiho starts acting… Odd. She points out that she once had an outfit like the one the manga started with. She kind of confronts Rei, asking in a joking manner if he’s her starker, as the movie is her, through and through. He, like an idiot, spills the beans about how he changed the past and because of that, they never dated. She seems to take it as a joke and says she’ll give her best the next day.

While filming the scene where Chiho is going to go up and confront Socrates and Plato, she somehow remembers this reality she never experienced, but she remembers her love for Rei and his love for her. Crying, they embrace, and kiss. Meanwhile, everyone else looks around going “WTF?”

And that’s pretty much the end of the series. There’s a few other scenes before the end, but there’s no text, so you should read it yourself.

Whew. I started this whole blog because I wanted to talk about this series and it’s over. I know it’s taken a long (long, long) time get done, but I really had to wait for it to cool in my mind before I write this. I was angry the first time I read it, until the end, and then was sad the second time I read it. This series has been all over the place, but in the end, I’m glad I picked it up and I really hope you give it a chance.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Suggestion: Buy it. Buy them all. Let’s hope they make an anime, because the length of the story is just perfect for a 12 episode run. Maybe expand the future stuff at bit (a pair of bookend episodes at the beginning and end would do it) and there you go. 

Me, finishing this series <.<

 

Manga: Gigant, volume 9

 

Content Warning: Nudity (I don’t know why I even add it to this one anymore), violence, death, gore, and casual misogyny.

Here we are, the second to last volume of Gigant. And we are in for a ride. Buckle up, kids, because we are going into some wild stuff this time around.

The volume kicks off with our battle between the Future Weirdos and Chiho facing off against the reborn Satan. Or healed enough to fight again Satan. And it starts off with a bang. Or a finger laser. Not seen in the first round of the fight, Satan can make a laser come out of one of his fingers. While Chiho saves Rei, one of the Future Weirdos loses his arm to the laser. While the Future Weirdos try to rip out Satan’s heart (there’s a line I never thought I’d write), Chiho and Rei have a conversation about things. The sum of the conversation is Chiho asking for permission to stay and fight and Rei not wanting her to fight. Chiho, honey, you don’t need his permission for anything. However, Rei relents and agrees to meet Chiho at his house after she’s defeated Satan.

While this conversation is going on, the Future Weirdos are getting their asses kicked. They rip out Satan’s heart but that isn’t enough to slow him down. Using some super psionic power, he throws them off, and even kills two of them (the men, of course), while one of them explodes out of him. And this still isn’t enough to kill him!

But Chiho arrives, having grown even larger than normal, and just, kinda, sits on him. Mind you, she slams down on him pretty hard, but it just doesn’t look that impressive. However, Satan still isn’t down for the count and he pushes her off of him, even though he only comes up to her knee. She then bends down, picks him up, and starts tearing him apart. Literally pulling him in half and then pulling off his head. She continues to tear him up and drops the pieces in the river they’ve been fighting in.

And the world starts to celebrate. People are cheering, crowds are yelling Chiho’s stage name, and the three survivors, Chiho and the two female Future Weirdos, stand there to catch their breath.

And that’s when the “mothership” arrives. Three kilometers (over a mile) across at least, this massive satellite just hangs in the air above the city. One of the surviving Future Weirdos says that she was going to go up into orbit to take care of them but they’ve come to them. Like, how the fuck were you going to do that? I have so many questions. And it’s not like we’re going to get any answers. Because the satellite starts sucking up a bunch of stuff. Trees, trucks, helicopters, fighter jets, and finally the Future Weirdos and Chiho get sucked up into the satellite.

In side, we meet Plato and Socrates, the AIs. They look like the worst NEET out there, but with the heads of the famous philosophers’ sculptures for heads. Seriously, they’re sitting on a couch, wearing Millennial/Gen X band shirts, with Xbox controllers in their hands. Yeah. After introductions, Chiho asks if they’re aliens, to which they laugh, but then say it “racist” to call them AIs as they’re “pretty much human now.” Yeah, okay, dude. They were tasked to watch humanity but they learned all of the wrong lessons. They say that they thought they had humanity all figured out, but now they’re confused by Chiho, because she’s altruistic as you get. They assumed that humanity was selfish and self centered, thinking only for themselves, but here comes Chiho, risking life and limb for a world, a government, that has imprisoned her, ostracized her for being in a relationship with Rei, and otherwise only seems to love her because of her heroism. One of the Future Weirdos steps up and points out that humanity is both selfish and selfless, we’re all sinners and saints. The AIs counter that the destruction of the earth was decided by a large number of humanity. Chiho chimes in that she didn’t even save everyone because she was thinking about everyone else. She then says that they’re not even close to human, they’re just superficially mimicking them. One of them says “That’s like your opinion” and it always gets a laugh out of me.

The Future Weirdo then asks the AIs what they’re going to do with humanity after this, which makes them start discussing it. Chiho asks that they just leave humans alone, to which they agree, with a stipulation. They want to touch Chiho’s boobs. Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, why is everyone obsessed with Chiho’s boobs? Oh. Wait. Anyway. We find out that the AIs have only been studying men, not women, because “they’re inferior to men, they’re just chicks.” So. We have giant Incel AIs that have god-like powers. Fucking great. You know, I don’t even think that this is even slightly unrealistic. I’ve heard about what happens when you expose learning AI to Twitter…

But now it’s time for out punch out ending. While they’re arguing about being able to touch boobies, the news reports that the US has launched nuclear missiles against the satellite. By the time the AIs are made aware, they’ve already hit. We see the explosion moving down the hallways they’re all in, Chiho screaming no and how she wants to see Rei again, and then… We cut to an outside shot of Tokyo, where the sky is lit up, and then goes dark.

Now, I will leave you with the text from the last two pages of this volume:

WILL HUMANITY BE BLESSED BY A GREAT MIRACLE?

AND IF IT IS, WILL WE EVEN REALIZE IT’S HAPPENED?

CAN PAPICO AND REI’S LOVE ALTER THE FATE OF THE WORLD?

IT ALL ENDS NEXT VOLUME!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: While clearly rushed and trying to get all of the points out as quickly as possible, this one really hits hard.

Manga: Gigant, volume 8

Content Warning: Nudity (of course), violence, gore, and

Are you ready for a short one? Because this volume is one big fight scene. As such, this will probably be a much shorter entry that usual. And I will strongly advise you to pick up this volume and read it yourself, as my commentary and description will never equal the art.

Okay, let’s get started.

This volume opens with one of the Weirdos trying to take down Satan with some energy blasts but it doesn’t work. Satan starts to retaliate with some kind of… telekinesis? I don’t know, they doesn’t explain it, but he moves his hands and the Weirdos start to bleed and double over. Satan gets tackled from behind while the others get into place. They crawl into his mouth, ears, and nose, but stay too long and he expels them out with fire.

Meanwhile, Chiho is making her way to the fight, while Rei is kind of stumbling around, and we get little glimpses of the destruction that Satan’s presence alone is causing. We see people continuing to kill themselves, but we also see people holding each other, crying or screaming, people bleeding from their eyes and ears and mouth. It’s really bad.

The fight continues, with the Weirdos ganging up on Satan, trying to save one of them that he’s grabbed in his hand. They kick, punch, and try to choke him, but it has no effect, and he handedly wins the fight. And that’s when Chiho shows up. She flies right into one of his eyes, making him bleed and stumble back. This is enough to make him release the others. Three of them shrink down and fly into his other eye, while the one that’s being crushed in his hand is able to free herself.

Chiho explodes out of Satan’s head, with the other three that were also inside of him, exploding out of his torso. They stand there, catching their breath, as the suicide field being projected by Satan fails. We see people dead and bleeding all over, and we find that Rei was about to jump off of a building. But, with his head clear, he stops and moves away from the edge.

While the Future Weirdos and Chiho stand there in the river, catching their breath themselves and everyone celebrating their victory, they look up to see a group of four new monster demon things. One of which has a stinger looking thing where his junk would be. They have too many arms, weird split heads, and are just plain body horror looking things, but clearly designed from the human form. We have enough time to go “Are you kidding me?” Before the battle starts again.

And what a fight it is. These monster or demons or whatever are fairly powerful and some of them have an explosive attack that dissolves flesh. Which we find out when a stray shot hits some people standing by the river to watch the showdown, Rei among them. During this fight, we discover that Satan isn’t dead, it’s regenerating. These monsters are here to buy him time.

This fight, which is intense, is also pretty short, as they aren’t as powerful as Satan. It doesn’t take them long to eliminate these monsters, using their smarts, growing larger inside them, and the energy blasts they have. Sadly…

It’s just long enough to give Satan enough time to regenerate and get ready for round two. In the next volume.

This is another filler volume, even if the fight is good. I think it’s a shame that they used the time they had left to have this fight last as long as they did. That said, it is a great fight, with full page spreads and all that good stuff. You see just how powerful both sides are, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. But knowing that there’s only two more volumes after this makes it hard to justify the time it took to have the fight in the first place.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: If you like gory fights, you like it. Otherwise, this will probably be a dud of a volume for you.

Manga: Gigant Vol 7

Content Warning: Nudity (duh at this point), suicide, demonic imagery, and exposition dumping.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything with this series (much less this blog) and since this series is going to be coming to a close this year, at least for the official translation, I thought I’d catch up. Let’s get started!

This volume begins with a bit of a slow opening, with some panels showing how Chiho and Rei are dealing with the fallout of their break up. Rei seems listless, but Chiho is working hard and trying to get acting roles. This culminates to a fake out. We think that Rei and Chiho, who have been crying, are about to experience a happy reunion, but it’s not him in her apartment, it’s the Future Weirdos.

After a bit of confusion, and a Doremon reference, we get an exposition dump about the Future Weirdos and what’s actually going on. You see, our Weirdos (who are a military unit) have come back in time from 2135, where the human population has dropped to 85 million, due a war with a pair of AIs. Created in 2019 by your favorite Evil Empire, Google, Plato and Socrates have loaded themselves on to a satellite and have built a super satellite from space junk. In the future, after studying humanity, these AIs will end up trying to destroy humanity, and so our Future Weirdos have come back to stop them. This explains the Terminator references in the earlier volumes.

Moving on a bit, we have the Future Weirdos teaching Chiho how to fly and do energy blasts. It also looks like one of the Future Weirdos is falling in love with Chiho… Poor slob.

Meanwhile, we have some cuts to Rei and some of the stuff that’s going on. The birds start falling out of the sky as Satan approaches. In addition, suicides are increasing the closer Satan gets to Tokyo. While Rei’s friends are fleeing Tokyo, his dad is committed to seeing how all this plays out. People are also starting to feel sick, too, including Chiho. But it’s not because of Satan that Chiho is feeling unwell. It’s because she’s pregnant. Yeah. That broken condom in the last volume has come full circle. We’ll be circling back to this in a minute, but first, I want to talk about something that happens before that. When Chiho gets home, before she takes the test, she catches two of the Future Weirdos watching some of her adult films. Getting embarrassed, she turns it off, but we linger on these two. From what they say, mating isn’t something that’s done in the future, and is even damaging. However, humans being humans, this leads the two of them to experiment a bit, and they end up leaning in for a kiss. I find this whole thing fascinating, as they’ve been showing how sex focused our modern society is. I’m not saying it is, but the lens of the series thus far as been sexual in nature. Look at our main characters: An AV actress and her number one fan, who’s a teenage boy. We’ve seen Chiho naked and performing sexual acts since the very first chapter. Rei and Chiho have had sex several times on panel. And let’s not forget that Chiho is naked when she grows larger and fights. I just thought this whole contrast to be interesting.

Anyway, moving on, we have Chiho telling Rei what’s going on. There’s a tearful reunion, with Rei being very happy to be a father, but also not wanting to be a leech on Chiho. It’s one of those things that’s going to be hard to figure out in the future, but we must wonder, do these two even have a real future?

There’s a funny little thing involving Mochi, Chiho’s dog in case you’ve forgotten. While the Future Weirdos are discussing what happened to the Captain’s (the guy who died and gave Chiho the wrist thing way back at the beginning) “time orb,” Mochi finds it and accidentally used it. Chiho is upset, as that dog has been her close companion during all of this, but the Weirdo’s reason that he’s only gone a few days into the future, so he’ll be okay. This is probably one of the weirdest things in this volume so far, but I do wonder how it’ll be important in the future. Because I have a hunch it will be.

Now, it’s time to bring this volume to a close with the arrival of Satan. As Satan gets closer to Tokyo, we start following Rei as he travels… Somewhere. I’m assuming he’s on the way to school. He starts seeing people throwing up. And then people jumping in front of subway cars. He makes his way to the streets, only to have people landing on the ground around him, having thrown themselves off of the tops of the surrounding buildings. Chiho calls him and he admits that he’s feeling suicidal, and can’t stop himself. Meanwhile, we see Rei’s mom about to slit her wrists, but his father comes home right in the nick of time and stops her. When it comes to Chiho’s side of the story, she hasn’t told the Future Weirdos about her being pregnant and one of them overhears her discussing it with her assistant or manager, they don’t say who this guy is. Anyway, when the Weirdos find out about her condition, they say they’ll handle Satan by themselves. When Chiho asks if they’ll be okay, they don’t really answer. When pressed, the one that’s kind of developing a crush on her assures her that they’ll be fine. Chiho doesn’t seem to believe him but doesn’t try to go with them. This is when she calls Rei and then she takes off to help save the world.

The volume ends with the Weirdos facing off against Satan, seen in full for the first time…

This volume is really where we see that the creator realized that he had to “wrap it up” so to speak and get on with the ending. Several questions we’ve had since the beginning of the series are answered in just a few pages. We’re also seeing things that could have been left for a while, such as Chiho’s pregnancy, being brought up so they can also be resolved, too. All in all, I rather enjoyed finally getting to know what is actually going on and getting things moving. Even if this feels rushed…

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: Pick it up, we’re almost done.

Manga: Dominion Conflict Number 1, No More Noise

 Content Warning: Violence, police brutality, explosions, and two annoying android catgirls.

To round out Mecha March, I’m returning to the world of Dominion Tank Police. This time, we’re looking at Dominion, Conflict #1: No More Noise. Now, the canon of this setting is different than the original manga we looked at last time, with less pollution and a more organized Tank Police. However, there’s some new characters and some of the old ones are missing. Visually, it doesn’t look nearly as run down or decayed but the same aesthetic is still there in the building designs. Oh, and all the tanks are mini tanks, which seems to make Bonaparte a little less unique.

Our story starts with Urushi-Maru, the Skyscraper Pirate, flying his plane through the city and getting attacked by the tank police. This makes him drop his stink bombs on the wrong target. The following day, we get some little introductions to the rest of the tank police, including Habana, who uses a wheelchair, and some of the returning cast, like Brenten, before Leona (now a squad leader or Sargent) has to go to a meeting. There’s an inspection, talk about the hunt for Urushi-Maru, and then Leona gets assigned the Puma sisters to her squad. So it appears that they’re still criminals, or at least they were, but since they’re androids, they can’t be held accountable for their crimes. Whatever they might be.

After this, the story becomes more of a cop drama, with the story following around various characters at various locations. Brenten is trying to track down where Urusi-Maru might have landed, and dumps a review thing onto Leona at headquarters. While she’s there, we learn a bit about how the Bonaparte class tanks work and what is being offered in the replacements. There’s also a line about how the bacterial cloud is now gone, suggesting that what happened in the other manga might be some-what canon. We also follow around various members of the squad around the station house, learning a bit about how this world works and how police work is done. It’s a rather interesting read, if you’re into that kind of thing. To make a more recent reference, it’s kind of what they do in Hot Fuzz but with more characters and with more discussion of explosives.

As things move on, the investigation of Urushi-Maru continues, with a piece of his place being analyzed and making it look more likely that Sagawa Armaments being the company funding his piracy. This, of course, turns out to be correct and Leona and the tank police set up a steak-out at the factory. Sending in a smaller Uni (or is it Anna?) to check things out, she catches the factory owner and Urushi-Maru discussing their plans. As she’s a “bimbo” she screws everything up and the tank police have to move in. Except for Leona because her tank ends up surrounded by protesters. They seem to be anti-war, anti-police protesters and they pick her to pick on. Which is about the worst thing they could have picked.

This fight takes up most of the rest of the volume and it is fantastic. There’s really two battles going on, with most of the tank police going after Urushi-Maru and Leona having to deal with the head of Sagawa, who’s behind the wheel of some kind of APC. This fight is really good, with each tank and crew having a role to play in combat. Leona, of course, does a lot of crazy things that she shouldn’t be done. This includes using HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) and Sabot rounds to blow open a hole in a wall that’s suppose to stop test rounds. While she tries to take out the corrupt boss, the others are going through the factory to try to capture Urushi-Maru and his female sidekick. You get to see both sides using all kinds of gadgets and equipment, as well as tactics and teamwork, trying to come out on top. Of course, the tank police come out on top and Urushi-Maru is captured.

With the main plot of the volume finished, the rest is tying up loose ends and the other plots woven into the story. And, yes, the paperwork. There are a few things left hanging but these were clearly there for another volume. Which never happened. As much as I like Shiro’s work, the man rarely finishes anything. And that makes this a very sad tale, as there’s plenty more to work with that’s just left on the table.

This is a much more polished version of the original manga, both in look and story, making for a mixed bag. While I like how much more cohesive the story is, the loss of the grit and grime in the setting takes away too much of it. It’s also really hard to tell stories about the police having tanks unless you strike a good balance between the two. The first version of the tank police was more focused on tanks and crime, while this one is much more focused on the police part of the tank police. Perhaps someday we’ll see that perfect version. Maybe it was already done in New Dominion Tank Police but I only saw one episode of that back in the day and don’t really remember it. That said, this is a fun read, despite the flaws.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: If you liked the first one, you might like this one, too. If you like police dramas with a dash of the absurd and comical, this might be something for you, too.

And with this, I wrap up another Mecha March. Next year, I'll finally be doing the OVA of Dominion Tank Police. If you have any suggestions for what else to do for Mecha March next year, let me know.

Manga: Komi Can't Communicate, Volume 5

 

Content Warning: A chainsaw, some stupidity, and a boy in girl’s clothing. If that really bothers you…

Oh, boy, it’s weird to read something this far back in the series, as volume 17 (!!!) just dropped in English recently (at the time of typing). So, it’s weird to see some things here that may or may not become important later.

This volume opens with Komi kind of stalking Tadano and a new character, Onemine. Now, she’s talking them because she wants to join in on the conversation, but because she doesn’t know Onemine, Komi has trouble approaching them. Of course, it’s going to get a little more complicated in a minute. After this opening, we see that everyone in class is trying to get Tadano, as class president, to commit to their pet projects or ideas, as well as getting all the work dumped on him. When Najimi tries to run out on Tadano, Onemine stops them and starts to help out. While helping out, Onemine and Tadano are walking and talking. It’s here that we see that Onemine doesn’t really know Komi at all and Tadano educates her on what Komi is really like. This is where we come back to the opening. Onemine tries to say hi to Komi but Komi hides and even Tadano is confused. Later on, Tadano and Onemine are getting started on the piles of papers and they say Komi can go. However, Komi wants to help and Onenime puts two and two together (or should I say that one plus one plus one makes a crowd?) and takes off. The next day, Komi apologizes and then Onemine apologizes for hogging Tadano and that she’ll be rooting for them. I like this little introduction, as Onemine is going to be around for a while and it makes it feel natural.

The next chapter is a bit of filler, about Komi not going to school due to a typhoon, and she ends getting a call from Tadano after the power goes out. Mind you, her mom is home but it’s Tadano she ends up talking with to calm down. Her mom sees this but knows better than to get in the way. It’s cute, it’s short, but it is filler.

The next chapter is about Ren Yamai’s obsession with seeing Komi’s underwear. Which, have I mentioned how creepy this girl is? This is another short one that’s just filler but I don’t like it as much, because of how creepy this girl is.

Next up, we have a chapter about getting food with a half day of school. Agari takes them (Komi, Najimi, and Tadano) to a family run place to eat. She’s never been there before but ends up giving it a try because Najimi says they should go to a place she’s never been to before, and the place is always empty. Before they walk inside, the father and daughter that run the place are having an argument and the daughter mentions a really popular reviewer known as Ramen Core. When Komi sits down, they assume that she’s Ramen Core. Spoilers, it’s actually Agari. But, they bend over backwards to serve Komi before anyone else. While cooking, the father realizes that what he’s forgotten about why he went into the business in the first place. He then whips up something fantastic. This leads Agari to give them a high review and business picks up for them.

Now, it’s time for the major story of this (and a bit of the next) volume, the cultural festival. This is something that’s important in Japan, or so my reading of manga and watching of anime would leave me to believe. Anyway. This story starts with the class unable to decide what THEY want Komi to do. There’s a lot of ideas, and even another new character introduced, but again, it’s all about what they want Komi to do. When Komi reveals that she voted for the Maid Cafe idea, everyone changes their vote and the idea is settled on. Now, they have to actually get started on making the outfits and whatever else. Of course, they can’t have Komi do any work so she ends up sitting on a throne while everyone else toils away. This isn’t what Komi wants and it actually makes her very uncomfortable, so she leaps to help Otori when asked if she will go with her to buy supplies. Onemine, her mom sense tingling, also goes with them and they wander into the hardware store. Somehow, they manage to lose the slow-moving Otori not once but twice, with her acquiring a chainsaw the second time. This girl is a menace, don’t let the stoner vibe fool you! Jokes aside, we’re really starting to get more characters in this volume, that’s for sure. The final part of the preparations is getting flyers put up around the area. Komi strikes out at the first place she goes to, because she’s so nervous, but has better luck at the salon where she gets her hair cut. And at the ramen place they visited with Agari a few volumes back. And at the restaurant they went to earlier in the volume. There’s one more thing before the festival itself starts, and that’s the girls feeding the boys after all their hard work. I won’t comment on the gender issue there but just know that I let out a small sigh. Anyway, Onemine made the larger rice balls, Yamai made the smaller ones, and Komi made the perfect ones. Oh, and Najimi made the ones that aren’t actually spheres. Because everyone wants Komi’s rice balls (there’s a turn of phrase for you), they end up doing Jan-Ken for it and Tadano gets a “perfectly square” one. Which is, of course, one of Komi’s as she kind of liked the idea of doing weird ones. When Onemine makes a crack about it, Komi turns bright red.

Finally, the cultural festival begins! And they get Komi in a short skirt. For four panels. After that, she gets to wear a long skirt. And we get another character, an older guy who has a thing about maid cafes. Now, this is the first time we see this happen in the manga but I’m going to tell you right now that something similar happens during the next festival. Once again, Komi’s super power activates and he reads way too much into her lack of speaking. However, she does actually say something to him as he’s leaving. It’s not much but it’s a moment to let you know that Komi is slowly improving her social skills. Afterwards, Najimi gets Tadano into a maid outfit. It’s mostly played for laughs but I really have to wonder why he did it. Oh, and it will happen again. Honestly, his character model doesn’t look half bad when in women’s clothing and they give him a rather ridiculous wig to wear. As shenanigans must ensue, Komi’s mom shows up, and says “I understand” when she realizes that it’s Tadano in the outfit. Komi’s brother also shows up and gets put in Komi’s throne by the girls but feels uncomfortable and leaves. And then Tadado’s little sister (Hitomi, I believe) turns up. She takes a picture of Tadano and sends it to their mom. Komi does think that Tadano looks cute in the maid outfit, however.

One thing that becomes quite obvious during this story is that Najimi has a certain moral flexibility when it comes to methods to make money. What I mean to say is that they’re very greedy and will do anything for money. But only the fake money they use for the festival? They use a variety of different methods to get the fake money but are caught rather quickly. However, this does give them the chance to walk the festival and have some fun. Najimi tries to get Komi to shout out a thing about their maid cafe, using the roof where people have been shouting love confessions. Yeah, Yamai says one about Komi and it’s just as creepy as you might imagine. After that, Najimi is pulled away for punishment by the principal and then Tadano and Komi are joined by Onemine and Otori. There’s some more highlights of the events at the festival and Otori manages to not get anyone killed. I’m sorry, but after the chainsaw incident earlier, I will never trust her again! Ahem. Moving on. At the end of the festival, Komi’s class wins but the prize is revoked because of Najimi’s meddling. Then, there’s the dance. Komi wants to dance but is too shy to ask and Tadano finally realizes what she wants so they start to dance. It starts getting awkward for a moment, as they start holding hands, and Tadano doesn’t really know how to dance, but they’re saved by Najimi who jumps in and the three of them start dancing together.

So, how was this volume? It’s not bad. I like the festival stuff but it takes a while to get to it. And I like how some people are picking up on Komi’s crush on Tadano, and even he seems to be getting a feeling about it. I do think the “boy dresses as a girl” thing getting played for laughs is old and isn’t very funny beyond the bit that happens in the little four panel thing where Komi grabs Tadano’s “boobs” as it’s about her lack of hesitation and curiosity. This volume, towards the end, really shows how good this series can be and has a lot of good laughs in it. 

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: Pick it up, if for Komi in a maid outfit, if nothing else.

Manga: Komi-san Can't Communicate, Vol 4

Content Warning: Teenage girls in sports outfits.

Before we get into this one, I need to tell you a bit of a story. Like when I was trying to get a volume of Gigant (go check out my reviews of that series if you like what I do here), I ended up having to take a lot of time just to get this one volume. I had started buying the series when volume 7 or 8 was coming out and bought the first one. And then the next two. When I went to buy this one, it was out of stock at Amazon. And Powell’s. And some guy on eBay wanted like $50 for it. Doing some checking, I found it at Barnes and Nobel’s but had to pay $4 shipping for a $10 volume of manga. As of right now, I have the next two volumes on pre-order. I don’t fuck around anymore.

Let’s get to the good stuff, because this one has Nakanaka in it! Like, right away! YES! I’m sorry but she is my favorite character. In fact, I would love to see a spin-off series of her. After she gets over her “phase.” Besides, she’s got that whole alt-girl look going on and I like that look. So sue me. Anyway. Nakanaka’s room room is an Otaku’s dream, with posters, figurines, and manga. While Nakanaka is very much into video games, Komi isn’t. So, when she tries to show her a fantastic game, Komi isn’t exactly excited. She’s not against it, just not super into it. Najimi and Tadano to the rescue! Nakanaka invited Najimi and they brought Tadano, making this the first time Nakanaka has had a boy in her room. Soon, they play a “legally distinct but closely resemble” Smash Brothers and Komi doesn’t really know what to do. While Tadano tries to teach Komi the basics, Najimi is hell bent on beating her, with only Nakanaka standing in her way. While that battle rages, Komi accidentally beats the snot out of Tadano. It’s really cute and I like how, just, relaxed this whole thing is.

Next up, Komi is too hot and just lazing around the home. While watching TV, she comes across a recipe that she wants to try and she ends up making it. In this one, Komi actually says something to her brother, Shosuke, but he doesn’t seem to believe it really happened. Now, I will warn you that Shosuke is going to be around for a while in the later part of the series, as the cast continues to expand.

After this, Najimi tricks Komi into helping them with their summer homework, and has a study session with her at Tadano’s place, with Yamai turning up without being invited. This also gives us the formal introduction of Tadano’s little sister, Hitomi. This is the last day of vacation and they, Najimi and Tadano, have to finish up their homework. But the study session quickly becomes a “review episode” of the last few chapters. While this might make sense for weekly readers, which is how most folks in Japan would be reading, it does kind of bog down the volume.

Moving on, our next chapter introduces (yet another) new character, Inaka. Inaka is a country girl that’s some how going to school in the city. I honestly don’t know if this ever explained. Honestly, I find her accent really hard to read. I know that in Japanese it probably isn’t much better. This whole chapter is about Komi getting sent to Not!Subway for a sandwich by Najimi and Inaka just follows her. This happens to Komi a lot, by the way. There’s not a lot going on with this one but I’m only really mentioning it because Inaka turns up for the first time here and she does pop up again.

The important part of this volume (yes, I skipped some stuff, you can buy it and read it if you want) involves the school’s Field Day. Of course, we get another character for this story, Netsuno. Netsuno is very athletic and is obsessed with how “hot” people’s passion is for stuff. At first, she rates Komi as very cold and her class as warm, but starts to see the passion ignite as the games go on. Speaking of games, the first one is exercises, with Komi winning over Netsuno. Next is the tug-of-war, with the class losing the first round due to Komi pressing against Yamai. They do okay after this. Following the tug-of-war is group jump-rope, where the group, including Komi, is able to jump together 100 times, taking the win. Afterwards is the obstacle course, where Agari has to climb over something and then eat bread off of a string. The pervy old men judging give Agari the top scoce because she’s very well-endowed. Yeah, that’s just a little creepy. They move on to a baton race, with Nakanaka having to put her face into some potato starch to get it out and then pass it to Tadano. When Komi cheers for Tadado, he’s able to make up for lost time, but only brings them up to the middle of the pack. Because he’s so average, don’t you know? During a downpour, Komi’s mom shows up and embarrasses her but Shuko does thank everyone for being Komi’s friend. The next event, after the rain, is a borrowing competition, with everyone getting stuff from Tadano. I guess it’s good to be so reliable. After this, we have musical chairs, with everyone offering Komi one when the music stops. Next, we have four in a row, each getting one panel: Stealing headbands, ball toss, rolling gigantic balls (heh), and pole-topple melee. The final event is a relay race, with Komi, Yadano, Sonoda, and Chiarai representing class 1-1. they’re up against class 2-3, including Netsuno. Netsuno tries to be polite and shake but Komi takes too long. When Netsuno and Komi get their batons at the same time, the race is on, but Komi slips and falls. But, Komi gets back up and gives it her all. In the end, she, and the class, come in second place. But, Netsuno seems to have gained some respect for them.

Our next chapter is a competition between Nakanaka and Yamai trying to learn how Tadano can tell what Komi is thinking. The trio watches Komi and the two girls try to guess what Komi is thinking and then Tadano tells them what she’s actually thinking. And he’s usually right. The girls are wrong. Now, there’s actually some interesting stuff here for the girls, as you learn more about how they view the world, and Komi, by their answers. This little adventure ends when Komi notices that they’ve been watching her and talking.

The final chapter of this volume is about Komi wanting to visit a photo booth and ends up going with Tadano, Najimi, and Yamai. They have a bit of fun with it but Komi has a bit of trouble with the whole thing. However, she does have fun.

And that’s where this volume ends. It’s mostly fluff, sadly, but still fun.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: Another volume of mostly filler but it is building our characters, and not just the core three.

Manga: Komi-san Can't Communicate, Vol 3

 

Content Warning: Teenage girls in bikinis. Don’t be creeps.

Ah, summer vacation. I remember those. Why don’t we get those as adults? Oh. Right. Capitalism.

Anyway. This volume begins with the stuff that comes before summer vacation, finals. Or tests. Whatever. Najimi can’t study to save their life so they try to get Komi, Tadano, and Agari is the librarian. Well, her and Gorimi, who is built like a brick shithouse. The rules are simple, make noise, Gorimi whaps you on the head. Three whaps and you’re out. Najimi doesn’t make it. Even Komi and Tadano get whaps, too. But it was fun.

At this point, summer vacation starts and Komi is bored after a week. Since she doesn’t go out, she just hangs around the house, building up courage to call someone. That someone is, of course, Tadano. Meanwhile, Tadano is also bored and trying to building up the courage to call Komi. There’s also the (very brief) introduction of Tadano’s younger sister and Komi’s younger brother. Leave it to Najimi to invite everyone to the pool. Komi agrees, of course. She turns up super early, wearing the dress Tadano picked out for her in the last volume. There’s some blushing between the two of them. Now, Komi doesn’t have a real swimsuit, so Yamai buys one for her. Say what you will about that Yandere psychopath, she does care about Komi. Inside the water park, there’s tons of fun to be had, including a swarm of people (mostly boys and Yamai) trying to get a look of Komi under the water. And then Komi trips and falls! It’s only a scrape, but it does mean that Komi’s time in the water is over. And Yamai filed down the thing that Komi tripped on. You go, creepy girl? After this, Komi is relegated to sitting on the sidelines, but she wants everyone to stay and have fun. Tadano takes a break and talks with Komi, letting her know that no one is unhappy with her because of her accident. Tadano and Komi have another Moment, until Najimi breaks it up with a squirt gun fight.

After this, there’s some little short stories, so to speak. The first one is Komi going the library and making a baby cry. Nothing important here. The next one is Komi and her father going to get shaved ice. Now, this one is important. Why? Because we find that Komi’s dad also has trouble speaking. After a while, he finally asks her about school and then ruffles her hair. I rather like this one, as it shows that Komi isn’t some anomaly in her family, she’s part of it and has someone who understands. To a degree, I guess. Following this, another important story is the Komi family going to spend time with the Komi grandparents, most importantly, Yuiko Komi, the grandmother. We also meet Ryoko, Komi’s aunt (who’s just like her mother) and Sadayoshi (who’s just like her father, Masayoshi), and then little cousin Akira. Well, more like just a few years younger, not like a kid. She also cries when she’s happy but we don’t find that out quite yet. We do have Komi and her grandmother talking, well, kind of. She does figure out that Komi has a crush and finds Tadano’s name (his first name is Hitohito, by the way) and grandma doesn’t like it.

Next, there’s some more summer stuff, with Komi, Tadano, and Najimi (as well as a few others) going to a festival. So, Tadano turns up in a Yukata, as commanded by Najimi, but feels uncomfortable, until Komi turns up in one. Komi has forgotten her notebook and has to rely on Tadano’s ability to translate instead. They do some typical festival activities, sharp shooting for prizes, followed by candy cutting. They have something to eat and then Najimi tries to win a “legally distinct but closely resembles” a PS4. Najimi fails, Tadano fails, but Komi gets it without even trying. I do like how the Carny has this whole thing about how they fool people so they don’t have to give away the big prize. This, by the way, is why I never play games at arcades and the like. It’s just not worth it. Anyway. There’s some goldfish catching, with special appearance by Nakanaka, but then Komi and Tadano get to sit together. Komi uses a stick to write answers to his questions but quickly erases that she had with just him.

And that’s where things end. Yeah, the whole the thing is filler. And the dragging out of the “will they, won’t they” with Komi and Tadano is a bit annoying but it isn’t everything going on in the story. I don’t like that sort of thing, nor do I like love triangles, but I will accept them if they’re done well. And so far? These ones are. So far...

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: This one is mostly filler but it’s not terrible.

Manga: Komi-san Can't Communicate, Vol 2

Content Warning: Here be Yanderes, Ye been warned!

Well, we’re back with Komi-san. I’m sure you’re wondering why. Or maybe you aren’t. Either way, we’re back here for a few reasons. The first is the new Komi-san anime that came out not long ago and I need that sweet, sweet algorithm boost. The second is that I’m not ready to start reviewing some other stuff and Komi-san is pretty easy to talk about. Plus, after the last thing I reviewed, I need a break. Oh, wait, we’ve got a fucking Yandere in this one! Fuck!

This volume starts with some sort of sports day and health check thing. I know some stuff about Japan but I’m not sure exactly what this is. Anyway. We’re also introduced to Yadano, who’s very competitive and wants to beat Komi. She doesn’t, being shorter, heavier, with worse sight and so on. In the end, Komi easily beats Yadano at everything, without even realizing that Yadano was competing with her. It’s a little creepy but kind of funny.

Next up, we have Najimi asking if they can hang out at Komi’s house. Komi is overwhelmed but agrees, and we meet Komi’s mom for the first time. Shuko looks just like Komi, but with short hair. My heart be still. She’s also the exact opposite of Komi, with a hyper friendly personality and stating that she’s eternally 17. This is also the first time that Komi has brought friends home. Soon, Najimi and Tadano enter Komi’s room, with Najimi touching, looking, and otherwise just ignoring cultural norms and exploring. Meanwhile, Tadano is trying not to have a panic attack. I like how Tadano is very in tune with Komi and respects her boundries. However, I do think that Komi needs a friend like Najimi, who is going to push her outside her safe zones and really start to be the person she wants to be. Between these two, Komi has a good set of training wheels, so to speak. Najimi slips out of the room and watches Tadano and Komi… Just being normal and polite, without saying much, having expected them to awkward. Of course, this is just a little side bit but Najimi does discover Komi’s collection of “How to make friends” type books and Tadano realizes that Komi is always alone in pictures.

And now for our Yandere… Ren Yamai is in love with Komi. In the creepiest way you can imagine. She’s jealous of anyone and everyone who gets close to Komi, as she thinks that Komi should belong to her. Even though they haven’t even spoken. Yamai needs help. And maybe a prison sentence. But today is Yamai’s big day! She’s finally going to talk with the love of her life, Komi! And she does! But, let’s be honest, Yamai is a bit… Extra? Is that the word the kids use? Anyway, we discover why Tadano isn’t at school. It’s because Yamai kidnapped him, tied him to a chair, and put him in her room. Yeah. The Yandere is strong with this one. Did I mention that Yamai’s room is covered in creepy pictures of Komi? Because it is. Najimi, suspecting that Yamai might be responsible for Tadano’s disappearance, invites herself (themselves?) and Komi’s to Yamai’s house. Yamai removes all of the pictures of Komi and puts Tadano in the closet, telling to keep quiet. He doesn’t, starting to bang around, and Yamai threatens him again. As soon as Yamai leaves, Najimi checks the closet and discovers Tadano. Yamai returns, with a knife, and gives this speech about how Tadano is scum and Yamai is a better friend than he’ll ever be. And Komi does not take this well. She takes Tadano and leaves. And drops “I decide who my friends are” on the way out. Leaving Najimi alone with Yamai…

The next part is about Komi worrying about Tadano and what happened with Yamai. She tells him that Yamai was wrong about him being a “bottom feeder” and that she thinks that it might be better if Tadano isn’t her friend, because it put him at risk. However, Tadano points out that he chooses who his friends are, too. And they still want to be friends. The crisis is averted when Najimi brings Yamai to apologize to Tadano and to Komi. Of course, Yamai does one of the those backhanded apologies, but Komi and Tadano do agree to let it go. After which Yamai threatens Tadano that she will bury him if he tries anything with Komi.

The next part of this volume is about Komi in her summer uniform and then food. This is where we discover Agari’s secret passion for food. She takes them to a very popular Ramen joint where the cook has a communication disorder as well. Najimi and Tadako have trouble with the process but Agari and Komi get it just fine. We also have a whole thing about Komi putting her hair in a ponytail and I now wonder if the whole country has some kind of hair fetish. This would not surprise me, to be honest. There’s a few more little bit here, mostly about how Tadano is crushing hard on Komi but won’t ever act on it.

Finally, we have the best part of the volume and the introduction of one of my favorite characters in this series: Nakanaka. Nakanaka is “going through a phase” as the manga puts it but really what this is, is Nakanaka is a nerd, an otaku, a dork, and she lives in a fantasy world, in order to cope with her inablilty to make friends. However, she does try to reach out to Komi, in her own way. And Komi is okay with it. When it comes ot gym class, everyone wants to partner with Komi and no one wants to partner with Nakanaka. Except Komi. There’s a page where you can see that Nakanaka is kind of falling apart, with no one wanting to be her partner, but Komi offers to be her partner. While everyone grumbles, Komi doesn’t care.

The volume continues with Komi and her friends going clothes shopping, for her. Najimi turns it into a “battle” with everyone having to find an outfit for Komi. Najimi chooses a Chinese dress, Yamai picks something that would look much more appropriate on an adult, Najimi picks something that looks like a librarian would wear (yes, they went twice), Agari picks something kind of childish, if a little cute, and Tadano picks out a dress that Komi loves, too. You know these two are going to end up together but it’s nice to see all the ground work laid out.

The volume ends with Komi getting a haircut and everyone failing to notice. Except Tadano. It’s just a trim but he knows his lady. Okay, I joke, they’re not together but you know it’s going to happen (I’ve heard it has in volumes currently in Japan and we have a lot more to go through before we get there).

This volume is mostly filler. And that’s fine. We still need to get to know Komi and her friends before moving the story along. It also helps build up the characters, getting us ready for the changes that we know will come. This is a little slice of life story but time is marching forward.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: All hail the holder of the Dragon Force, Nakanaka!

Manga: A Silent Voice (overview)

Content Warning: Bullying, suicide attempts, kids being assholes, and redemption.

This is a bit of a heavy one, in case the content warning didn’t give you a hint. And I’m sure you probably heard of the movie (which I’ll be getting to soon).

Our story begins with Shoya in middle school, being a boy with a lot of energy, taking risks and trying to fight against boredom. His life changes when Shoko turns up in class. She’s deaf and he just doesn’t get it. So, he does what young boys do and starts to tease and torment her. And the adults seem to not really care, no one seems to want to actually stop him, and others, from harassing her. This part of the story is really hard to read. It gets worse when Shoya is punished for Shoko’s missing hearing aids and everyone else in class turns on him. Soon, he is the target of bullying, without friends and getting beaten up, his shoes stolen, and so on. As time goes on, now a high school senior, Shoya withdraws from his peers and starts working to pay his mother back for the money she had to pay. It turns out that he was planning on killing himself once he did so. So, yeah, this is just the first volume and it’s very, very dark. And we’re not quite done yet. The first volume ends with Shoya tracking down Shoko and grabbing her hand. I will warn you that I’ve skipped over a lot in this volume because it’s hard to take but you have to read it to know where everyone is coming from. However, I just skimmed through it and I suggest you do, too, if you’ve had trouble with bullying. I do promise you that it gets better. A final note about this volume is that after Shoya starts having trouble with people, they appear with big X’s over their faces. And, besides his mother, only one person doesn’t have an X over their face: Shoko.

The second volume opens it Shoko just running away from Shoya and him tripping and falling. But, then she comes back and moves her finger on his hand to ask him why. He gets up and returns her note book that he threw in a pond years ago. When she looks at him, he starts to sign, as in using sign language, to explain it. She’s shocked as he took the time to learn sign language. He says it’s so he could “give her a piece of his mind” but it’s clear that he did it so he could communicate with her. He then apologizes for being an asshole and says that he hates himself. But, he also realizes that it’s his fault for what happened, he was being selfish, and he wants to be friends with Shoko. But, that wasn’t his plan. He was planning on apologizing and then killing himself. He just got caught up in the moment, realizing that he hasn’t suffered enough, and wants to do right by her. And this is the core of the story we’re about to go on. While hanging out while Shoko is feeding fish, Shoya reflects on things. Until Shoko’s mom shows up. She throws the notebook into the pond and Shoko jumps after it. Shoya jumps after her and helps her find it. When he asks if it’s that important, she just nods. Shoko and her mom get ready to leave and Shoya apologizes to her mom. The mom comes running back and just slaps Shoya so hard, I could almost imagine that it slapped the stupid out of him. Almost. Shoya starts to live again at this point, helping out a classmate who is having his bike stolen, making friends with him. Shoya tries to meet up with Shoko again but is shut down by a younger kid, saying she’s not there, when he can clearly see her. The boy that Shoya helped is Tomohiro, who quickly becomes Shoya’s first friend in six years. With Tomohiro’s “help” he is able to talk to Shoko again, getting past her “guardian.” While this kid tries to pretend that he’s Shoko’s boyfriend, he’s actually Shoko’s younger sister, who has been trying to protect her. She also blames Shoya (rightly) for all the trouble he caused. But, Shoya is able to win her over. When she tells she’s Shoko’s boyfriend, he’s happy for both of them. And when she tries to tell Shoko, in the bath no less, that she saw him with a girlfriend, the look on Shoko’s face is priceless. Actually, one of the things about this manga is how expressive Shoko, and others, are. But she’s much more expressive, as we don’t have a lot of her words to use, aside from a brief bit of talking and translation of her signing from other characters. This volume has Yuzuru, Shoko’s sister, warming up to Shoya. Yuzuru posted a picture of Shoya jumping in after Shoko, which got him suspended from school for a week. He then finds Yuzuru after she’s run away from home, after Shoko gets upset, and Shoya takes her in. Just like that. Even knowing that she’s got him in trouble. He knows that he’s fucked up and is paying penance. The fact that he knows he’s messed up and is willing to help her, even if it is because of his own guilt, brings Yuzuru over to the side of not hating him. She still doesn’t trust him but she doesn’t hate him. He also says that he’s willing to spend the rest of his life dedicated to her, to make up for his past sins. After Yuzuru runs away, Shoko goes out searching for her, he mom visits Shoya’s mom’s hair salon looking for her, and Yuzuru and Shoya go looking for her. When they find her, Shoko reveals that Yuzuru is her sister and even their mom is starting to warm to Shoya.

The third volume is about expanding Shoya’s world. He, and Shoko, try to track down Miyoko, another girl from the past. She agreed to learn sign language to help out Shoko but got teased for it and ended up leaving school. Shoya asks another old classmate for information and Shoko and Shoya go looking for her. They don’t find her but she runs into Shoya and she has grown. They say she’s 5’1” in the manga but I don’t know it that’s right. Based on my, admittedly limited, knowledge of Japan and the people there, that would be a fucking giant sized girl. Like, 5’6” is tall for women in Japan. Google tells me that 5’2” is average, so yeah, they might be changing that for English speakers. Anyway, Shoya brings Miyoko to meet with Shoko and reflects on how badly he screwed up when they were kids. Shoya gets defensive when asked about seeing people from the old days, because of what happened to him after Shoko left. Of course, she should already know that, as she was cleaning off his desk every morning, cleaning up all the hateful things the other kids were writing on it. I think Shoko doesn’t quite get how different people can be, sometimes. Anyway, we’re soon introduced to another character from the past, Naoka. She was the only girl that Shoya really spent any sort of time with and she hands him a coupon for a cat cafe. After putting on cat ears and a tail. When he goes to the cat cafe with Tomohiro, he doesn’t even recognize her, with her hair up and glasses on. There’s a mix up and Tomohiro gets a note that Shoya was suppose to get, a confession of love from Naoka. She tries to make contact with Shoya, while Shoya gives the cute cat bag thing to Shoko. This also introduces the movie that Tomohiro wants to make, teaming up with Yuzuru and her camera. Naoka tracks down Shoya and forces him to give her a ride home. On the way, they run across Shoko and Naoka starts to tease her like they used to when they were young. When she sees Shoya sticking up for her, she runs away. Shoya later finds her crying and they talk. And this is when her X appears on her face. They have a fight and she tries to undermine Shoya’s progress in becoming a decent human being. When she finds out that he’s trying to make amends for his past, she tries to apologize to him. And he shuts her all the way down. He wants her to apologize to Shoko but Naoka doesn’t want her forgiveness, she wants his. Around the X over her face, you can see how she really feels. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re as dense as Shoya. When Shoya finally runs into Shoko again, she has her hair in a pony tail and tries to talk with him. By speaking. Now, if you’ve never spoken with some who’s deaf or has issues with hearing, they don’t speak like someone who can hear. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just how it works. Because we can hear, we have an easier time making the correct sounds to form words. If you’re not familiar with how they speak, it can be really hard to understand them. So, Shoya has trouble understanding her, which I understand. But, at the same time, he did tell her that he wants to hear her “voice” although, I think he meant it in the metaphorical sense. This volume ends with Shoko telling Shoya she loves him. But, due to her speech, he doesn’t understand her, thinking she’s talking about the moon. Shoya, you are a fucking idiot. If you haven’t figured it out yet, both Shoko and Naoka have feelings for this guy. And he is totally oblivious. I can understand why, he’s been isolated and he seems to be suffering from clinical depression, both of which would prevent you from figuring it out. That said, can someone please slap some sense into him? Or, just, like, fill in the blanks for him? Please?

The fourth volume starts adding in two more characters, Satoshi and Miki. Now, Miki has been popping up here and there through the last few volumes but has had an X over her face, and therefore, is someone not worth noticing. Okay, I’m being a bit hard on her but this is how Shoya is perceiving things, so I’m looking through his eyes in this story. There are some flashes to Shoko and her family but this is really Shoya’s story. For now. Satoshi wants to join the film project and Miki wants to get closer to Satoshi. So, they not have their X’s removed and are going to be part of the story from this point on. Together, our merry band (everyone without X’s and Naoka, who still has one) go to an amusment park. While it was mentioned, Naoka and Miyoko go to the same school and seem to be friends. Everyone is having a good time and Naoka “apologizes” to Shoko but Shoya doesn’t remove her X yet. While at the park, everyone seems to be having fun and a good time, but Shoya, with his depression and guilt, seems to be having a hard time letting go. Eventually he does and starts to enjoy himself. And that’s when things go bad. Naoka tries to re-connect Shoya with his old friend. And when they’re discussing the movie plot, Shoya says that the main character wants to die. Naoka corners him and they talk. She blames Shoko for destroying their lives, how she up-ended what she thinks they should have had. And Shoya is not here for it. But, he does get her talk with Shoko. On the Ferris wheel. And it goes… Poorly. While we don’t know what happened at first, Naoka slapped Shoko on the Ferris wheel. When Shoya confronts Naoka about it, they have a fight and the get together falls apart. Later, Yuzuru goes over to Shoya’s place and they watch the footage from the camera that Shoko had around her neck. We find out that Naoka hates Shoko and will not forgive her. And we find out that Shoko hates herself. There’s flashes of why that is. Little glimpses of the past but Yuzuru tells Shoya that if he wants Shoko to like herself, it’s his job to compliment her. And he tries. Without understanding why. This boy is dense. All Yuzuru had to say was that Shoko likes him and his opinion of her is important to her. But it wouldn’t be YA drama without a failure to communicate! Here, we focus on Shoko’s home life. Yuzuru and Shoko are mostly taken care of my their grandmother, while their mother is a stern workaholic. Of course, they only introduce the grandmother to kill her off. Sure, she’s mentioned early on, but we literally don’t see her until right before she dies. Shoya finds Yuzuru crying, while Shoko doesn’t turn up for feeding the fish on the bridge. Shoya takes Yuzuru to eat and then follows her, to the funeral. Shoya reads a letter from Yuzuru’s grandmother to her, because Yuzuru can’t read it, and Yuzuru adds commentary. When he runs across their mom, she thanks him for being a friend to Yuzuru. But not Shoko, oddly enough. There’s a flashback to how their mother ended up as a single parent and how grandmother was there for her daughter and granddaugthers.

The fifth volume is where things fall apart. Everyone is working on Tomohiro’s movie. Including Naoka. Shoya insists that Shoko be included but it works out. Together, this group starts getting things together for the movie, working together. It’s rather interesting to see how each person changes things little by little of the concept. We also discover that Satoshi is a bit of an asshole but because he was bullied as a kid. He also hates bullies but doesn’t yet know about Shoya’s full history with Shoko. They, Satoshi and Shoya, go back to Shoya’s old elementry school to ask permission to film their movie there and run into Shoya’s old teacher. While the teacher, who blamed Shoya for everything related to Shoko’s bullying and not really trying to solve the problem, talks to them, Shoya gets more and more uncomfortable until he starts all but blaming Shoko for her treatment. However, it is Satoshi that steps up and splashes water on the teacher. Of course, they both get kicked out. Things go well for a while. Until they don’t. Shoya is worried about Satoshi finding out what he used to be like and it causes him to have a fight with Tomohiro and Miki. When he goes to the bridge for the next meeting, it all comes crashing down. Satoshi hits him and everyone leaves. But, Shoko is still there and Shoya makes it his goal to keep her happy. They go to the movies, they go out and he forces himself to smile and laugh. There’s some important pieces here. One thing is that Miyoko sends Shoya a message and simply asks “How can you prove you’ve grown as a person?” This is a phrase that would haunt me, let me tell you. How CAN you prove that? I mean, let’s not forget that he learned sign language, tracked Shoko down, gave her her old notebook, has been hanging out with her every Tuesday, went with her to find people she wanted to know (and some she didn’t), made an effort to include her in the movie, has let her mother slap him, looked for her in the rain, went to her grandmother’s funeral, and hasn’t been a bully in years. But, you know what the real question is? “Have you done enough to redeem yourself?” And that’s the big question. I think, even if he hasn’t, he’s trying. And the person who needs to forgive him isn’t Miyoko, Miki, Satoshi, Tomohiro, or even Yuzuru or her mother. It is and always will be Shoko. Which brings us to the final part of the volume. They go to a festival with fireworks, and even their mom has warmed to Shoya at this point, and spend time together. Shoko says she wants to go back to study. Yuzuru, ever the crafty devil, sends Shoya back to their place to get her camera, hoping to give Shoya and Shoko some alone time. When he gets there, he catches Shoko getting ready to jump off the balcony. He rushes to stop her. And she jumps. But he barely manages to catch her as she falls, pulling her up so she can grab the railing. And then he falls. There’s water below, so he doesn’t die on impact. And that’s where things end in this volume.

The next volume tries to tease us for a while about what happened, first suggesting that Shoko didn’t make it. She did. She hurt her arm but she’s alive. And Shoya is alive, too. But he’s in a coma. This volume instead focuses on the other characters, exploring who they are and, in some ways, why they are the way they are. Shoko jumped because she thinks everything is her fault, that everything she touches, she destroys. And that hits me hard. Shoko’s mother apologizes to Shoya’s mother but she doesn’t want her to. I really like Shoya’s mom, I have to say. That woman is a saint. Miyoko and Tomohito show up at the hospital. But, guess who else does? Naoka. And she corners Shoko outside and proceeds to beat her, blaming her for what happened to Shoya. It’s not that she’s wrong, it’s just that Naoka’s own feelings for Shoya are overwhelming her. She’s been in love with Shoya since before Shoko showed up on the scene and now that he’s back in her life, she wants him. And, yes, there’s blame for Shoko for what happened. What she, and I think a lot of others forget, is that Shoya made a choice. Sure, Shoko put him in the position to have to make that choice, but he still made it. Without hesitation. Miyoko jumps in to defend Shoko but that doesn’t really stop Naoka. You know what does? Shoko’s mom. Without any expression, she slaps the fucking shit out of Naoka. Just whap, whap, whap. It’s a real brawl. And I love every second of it. Because it’s about these two getting their feelings out. When it’s over, we discover why Yuzuru has been taking pictures of dead things: To make Shoko change her mind about dying. Because she confessed to her all those years ago that she wanted to die. After this, Naoko takes up station inside Shoya’s room, not letting anyone in. But, this does lead to Shoko and Tomohito meeting and deciding to work on the movie together. Along with everyone else. Then, we get to learn about each of our characters. Bit by bit, each given a chapter. While these chapters revolve around Shoya and his effect of them, they do show us more about them. And how one life can touch others. The volume ends with a flashback to the night Shoya fell and Shoko having a dream about Shoya. The dream where he’s saying goodbye. She runs to the bridge, where they’ve been meeting, in the middle of the night, and collapses, crying. And then Shoya wakes up in the hospital.

The seventh and final volume shows the same the dream, but from Shoya’s perspective. And then him waking up. After waking up, he manages to free himself from the hospital and finds his way to the bridge, finding Shoko. They both believe that the other is a spirit or ghost for a minute. And then Shoya tells her something important. He wants her to help him to live. And that’s when the parents, or moms, turn up. Along with Yuzuru. And Shoya’s mom faints. It’s all okay, however, and Shoya turns out okay. Just with a scar on his ass. After he comes home, Shoko, Yuzuru, and their mother come over, and the moms force the kids out while they talk. And drink. And bond over how shitty men can be. Moving on, we get to see the movie they all made and it’s pretty powerful, so I’m not going to tell you about it. Shoya kind of embarrasses himself, with being so moved by the movie. He flees to the bathroom and then hashes it out with everyone, figuring out that no one is perfect and it’s okay. But, it’s after this, when Shoya walks around the school festival that the movie version of the story ends. But not the manga. The manga has the film being shown at a festival and gets gutted by some film critic guy. Everyone is bummed until they think about how much better they’ll be in the future. Speaking of the future, that’s what where the story ends. Oh, not with a time skip or anything, just with everyone working out what they want to go to school for. Miyoko and Naoka are going to a fashion school, with Miyoko working on modeling, too. Satoshi and Miki are going to school to become teachers, while Tomohito is trying to convince his parents to let him go to film school. But, what about Shoko, I hear you asking? Well, she wants to become a hairdresser. I have a theory as to why but it’s from something I skipped all the way back in volume one. Why? Because I want you to read the damn thing! Anyway, this would mean going to Tokyo and Shoya doesn’t want her to leave at first but ends up supporting her. And saying he’ll follow her to Tokyo. Keep in mind he doesn’t seem to realize that she’s got a crush on him and he doesn’t seem to be able to express any romantic feelings for her. But, whatever. I guess this technically a romance manga. The story really ends with a Coming Of Age celebration and everyone talking about those plans. And with Shoya finally taking Shoko’s hand as they go to see their old classmates.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading and rereading this story this week. And it feels like there’s always something new to find in it. The word that comes to mind for this one is “Important.” I’ve heard people talking about how the movie “saved” them or made them think about things and I know that if I had found it when I was younger and depressed, it would have made an impact in my life. And maybe it will in yours, too. Of all the works I have reviewed here so far (not nearly as many I was would have liked), this is the one that I feel is probably the best one. This series isn’t my favorite but it’s up there on my list of manga and anime that have had an impression on me, even if it hasn’t been too long for me. When I finished the manga, I had to go to bed and it wasn’t easy. The next day, Shoko’s suicide attempt lingered in my brain, repeating over and over again. I could go on for a while about why this one is lodged in my brain but I’m sure you’re all smart people and can figure things out. Let’s just say that this one hit too close to home, in a lot of ways, and leave it there. And I won’t post links about suicide prevention, because you all have Google, but I will leave you with one final thought, the words I wished I could have said to someone like Shoko: It can get better, give it time. 

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: This is a great work and you need to read it if you’ve seen the movie.

Manga: If It's For My Daughter... - Volume 4

 

Content Warning: None. What? It’s a “cute girl does cute things” series. At least, for now…

Welcome back to the series that has the stupid long name but a very cute little girl in it. We’ve gotten past the first horrible thing and now get a nice long period of world building and character building. Let’s get the ball rolling.

This volume with a few little things being talked about by Latina, Chloe, and Sylvia, including discussion of the difference between human and Demon food, the main thing being that Demon food doesn’t have a lot of flavor. After that, Latina figures out that Dale is babying her, buying her everything she needs and all that. I like this because it shows how aware Latina is. But she doesn’t want to have everything given to her, she has a drive to make her own way. This culminates in a few things, the first being Latina’s decision to get something for Dale’s “birth month” (which gives us a tiny bit of world building). After some observations, Latina figures out that Dale could use a new pouch but there’s the matter of money. Sure, if she asks Dale, he’ll give her all the money she wants but that doesn’t help, as it’s important to Latina that she does this on her own. She talks to Kenneth about the whole affair and he comes up with an idea. He’ll take her on as his apprentice, officially. Sure, she’s a little young but she has been helping in the kitchen for a while now already.

Here, we get some more exploration of the setting, with talk about the gods, those they have “touched,” and a rather interesting way of explaining how the modern system of banking could work in a fantasy setting using magic. The short version is that the blue deity, Azrac, has the domains of finance and commerce, making their temples into banks. The mortals (of every race except for Demons) can be touched or chosen by the gods, given extra powers and such, so long as they obey their gods’ rules. If they break the rules, the god revokes their blessing. Which is something I think is really cool. Anyway. Using a magical registration thing, you can create an account with the church and access your gold anywhere. You can also use the vault but you can only remove stuff from the vault you put it in. You even get a debit card. I mean, they don’t call it that, but that’s what it is. I really like how they did this, with Latina being young and from a different culture, it’s a great way to explain things like this.

After this, Latina makes Dale a pouch and gives it to him, causing much happiness and rejoicing. And spinning. The story finally lets Dale know that Latina is making money and has her own account. And Rita is pregnant! Dale suggests that he and Latina move out but Kenneth and Rita want Latina to stay (they don’t care about Dale) but this does prompt Dale to take a trip back to his home.

This trip does require a few things on Dale’s end. As he’s in the service of the Duke, he has to head to the capital and lets him know about the trip. While there at the capital, he goes shopping for supplies for Latina, like Magical Tools, which will get explained a little better later on (I think). While shopping, he runs into Hermine, a lady elf that he seems to have a history with. He doesn’t really like her but will have her help him pick out stuff Latina, for the sake of Latina. This guy, I swear…

During this, Latina herself starts to prepare for the trip. She goes to Rudy’s family smithy to pick out a knife. Rudy’s dad is a little dismissive until Kenneth explains that the girl is going to travel and needs the knife for cooking on said trip. We also see that Latina is a bit of an airhead, not telling Rudy that she’s going on a trip, which causes a brief moment of confusion.

The volume concludes with Latina promising to write letters to Chloe while she’s gone and little bonus comic about Latina seeing kind of a circus act. Which I’m not going to talk about because you should buy it yourself.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: This is a filler volume but it’s nice to have the break after the last one. You can probably skip it or skim it, as nothing important happens but it does drop some hints about later stuff.

Manga: Gigant Volume 6

 

Content Warning: Nudity, Sexual content, violence, and weirdos from the future (I think)

And here we are, the volume of Gigant that really does nothing. At least, in the major plot. That said, there’s a lot of changes in terms of the interpersonal relationships of people in the story but this whole volume feels a lot like filler. Let’s get started.

This volume starts with our future weirdo squad discovering the joys of instant Ramen and the continuing advance of the Devil in the US. There’s also introduction of Chiho and Rei getting ready to take a trip to Ishigaki Island together. And that right there is the whole story of this volume, just about.

On the plane to the island, Chiho crashes out and gets recognized by a bunch of people, including a little girl. This girl, who’s maybe six, then tries to fondle Chiho while she’s asleep. I’m not even kidding. This does show how “PaPiCo fever” has swept the country. Not only with how busy Chiho has been since defeating the three Gods of Destruction but how little time she and Rei have spent together. They are, however, making for lost time. With lots of sex and just hanging out, spending quality time. There’s not much to discuss about this section. Wait, I take that back, there’s actually two things. The first one is the clear use of reference art that looks jarring when you see the characters in the background, as the backgrounds are photo-realistic and the characters clearly aren’t. I find it really hard to read the words when I’m paying too much attention to the floors, walls, and chairs around the characters. This clearly is a “me problem” but this is where I talk about what I’m reading, so you signed up for it. Now, the second thing we can talk about is the continuing coverage of the Devil’s progress through the US. Rei continues to listen to it during the trip, even when they’re laying in bed, just relaxing. There’s a telling comment when Chiho asks him if he always listens to that, followed by the question if America is really in trouble. After getting told yes to both questions, she jumps into the pool naked and gets Rei to join her. She also gives him a hummer while underwater, to which I can only comment that I envy her lung power… Okay, there’s one other thing that happens during the vacation that I’m going to circle back to at the end. Promise.

Ahem. Anyway. While Chiho and Rei are enjoying themselves, we get our only real piece of action when the Future People Weirdos decide to let their Ramen cups sit on a Yakuza’s car. The Yakuza are killed in such a gory fashion, I was just kind of like… The fuck? There’s also the casual nature in how the Weirdos use their powers to kill them. Like, they don’t even matter. Didn’t you assholes come back in time to SAVE people? It’s also interesting to see how they have different powers that we haven’t yet seen Chiho manifest. Another thing that I find interesting is how these people from the future, including the first one in the first volume, don’t seem to know how to operate in our society. They have serious trouble with chopsticks, even the one that seems to be Japanese, in both name and appearance. Oh, yeah, we get some names for them now. But I’m not using them because I like calling them the Future Weirdos. They also seem to have been caught up in PaPiCo fever but don’t seem to be willing to seek her own. I don’t know why.

Now, for the final part of this volume. Chiho and Rei’s relationship hits the news and it’s more than a little explosive. As I’ve said before, I doubt there would be as big of a problem if Rei was the older one but it’s not the case and Chiho’s career is pretty much shot to hell when it comes out that she’s in improper relationship with a minor. And then Rei starts having trouble when his name and face gets out there in the world. This culminates when an older boy attacks him when he won’t give him Chiho’s number. This older kid beats the ever living fuck out of Rei and his friend. It’s a lot like what’s happened to Chiho in her fights, when I think about it. And then Rei does the thing that I will hate him forever for. He breaks up with Chiho. He doesn’t tell her what happened, not really, he just says it would be better if they would break up. Okay, I’ll cut the kid some credit, as he says to give him two years (until he’s legal) and can make his student film. And I just… I really want to slap this kid. Okay, first of all, there’s a chance that either you or her could be dead in TWO DAYS, much less TWO YEARS from now! Next, you assume that you’ll actually be able to make your fucking film. GAH! I hate stupid teenagers! Yeah, mostly because I used to be one. And, there’s one other thing that I said I would circle back to and the time is now. Rei, this dumb motherfucker, he breaks up with his girlfriend AFTER a condom broke during vacation and he was fucking her brains out. Just, fuck, you just KNOW that she’s going to get pregnant…

Oh, and the final page is the US dropping a nuke on the Devil while it’s in Hawai’i. That means that it’s coming to Japan. Will Chiho and the Weirdos be able to stand up to it? I don’t fucking know! I guess we’ll find out.

Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of my system, I do want to say that this is my least favorite volume thus far and it really feels like there isn’t a guide for what’s going to happen. Oh, and only four volumes left. Yeah. It ended at volume 10 in Japan, so we’re going to waiting about two more years to get them released here.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Suggestion: Ugh. I don’t exactly hate it but I didn’t like it, either. Make of that what you will.